(22 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel – 22 August 2025
1. Various of plumes of smoke rising over Gaza Strip
STORYLINE:
Plumes of smoke were seen rising over the Gaza Strip on Friday, as Israel prepared for a large scale offensive into Gaza City.
Israel’s defense minister warned earlier in the day that Gaza’s largest city would be destroyed unless Hamas yields to Israel’s terms, as the world’s leading authority on food crises said the city was gripped by famine from fighting and blockade.
A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorize the military to mount a major operation to seize Gaza City, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that the enclave’s largest city could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas reduced to rubble earlier in the war.
He restated Israel’s cease-fire demands: the release of all hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament. Hamas has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.
With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the wide-scale operation in Gaza City could start within days.
Gaza City is Hamas’s military and governing stronghold, atop of what Israel believes is an extensive tunnel network.
It is also sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians and still houses some of the strip’s critical infrastructure and health facilities.
Hamas said earlier this week that it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators, which — if accepted by Israel — could forestall the offensive.
The parties do not negotiate directly and similar announcements have been made in the past that did not lead to ceasefires.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that at least 62,192 Palestinians have been killed in the war. Another two people have died from malnutrition-related causes, bringing the total number of such deaths to 271, including 112 children, the Health Ministry said.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. It does not say whether those killed by Israeli fire are civilians or combatants, but it says around half were women and children.
The U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. Israel disputes its toll but has not provided its own.
Hamas-led militants started the war when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking hostages.
AP Video by Shlomo Mor
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